George Town Ultimate Food And Drink Guide 2021 – Budget Travel In Malaysia

George Town has a reputation as being one of Asia’s best street food cities. Because of its multicultural population, you will find many dishes here that are unique to the area. Indian, Malay and Chinese influences combine to bring dishes with unique flavours.

The food in George Town, Penang is wonderfully affordable. You can get a full meal for about 5 MYR. Check out the ‘nasi kandar’ restaurants; self-service food where you help yourself to rice and pile it up with the many dishes on offer. Some information on local dishes and where to find them can be found here.

Alcohol is heavily taxed in Malaysia so this is where your budget might take a hit. There are many bars, particularly in the old town, but don’t expect Cambodia or Vietnam (or even Thailand) prices. Small beers can cost anything from 5 to 25 MYR. Because of this, we mostly stayed in the cheapest bars we could find. There are many bars in and around the old town, particularly on Love Lane and Chulia Street. There are also the hidden, speakeasy bars if you fancy something a little more adventurious.

Cheap Beer In George Town, Penang!

You cannot come to George Town without spending at least one night getting drunk at Antarabangsa Enterprise. Just try to choose a night where it doesn’t rain!

Antarabangsa Enterprise is basically an off license selling non-taxed alcohol (probably illegally) and providing plastic tables and chairs so people can sit outside in the road and get drunk. It has been this way for some time so the local police obviously turn a blind eye. It gets very busy so you basically sit where you can, but wherever you sit, it won’t be long before you are chatting with locals or fellow travellers who, like you, have come here for the cheap beer.

Beers start at 4 MYR. They are never the coldest because as soon as they are put in the fridge, they are gone! The cans are small so you don’t have them for long. Ice is available and there are also toilets in the back of the shop. On certain nights, you will be entertained by fire dancers and even live music in the streets. It’s cheap, it’s a bit dirty, and we loved it. Map.

Barfly George Town

I came here a couple of times when I wanted some beers closer to our hotel. Whilst not as cheap as ‘Antarabangsa’ or ‘Betel Nut’, the prices are decent here. My research showed beers were 5 MYR. On arrival, I discovered 2 menus at the bar. One showed a happy hour price of 5.8 MYR for a beer, the other showed 10 MYR. I decided to buy a beer and take it from there as to whether I would stay. The beer was 6.15 MYR! It went up to 7.2 MYR after 8 pm. It’s a popular choice, mainly with locals but it also gets a fair share of tourists. Map.

Betel Nut Tree Cafe

When searching Google for ‘cheap beer in George Town’, this place did not come up. Despite its location (opposite the top of Love Lane), this place seems more popular with locals. It became my number one place for a drink as the staff were friendly, it was a great place to sit and watch the busy streets and, most importantly, the beer was cold and cheap! Only 5 MYR for a can of Skol. Even Antarabangsa put their prices up to 5 MYR and their beer is not cold and they don’t have the luxury of being covered when it rains (and it rains heavily in George Town). A great little bar with super prices. Map.

Bricklin Cafe Bar

Located in the Hin Bus Depot is this modern hipster cafe. Good coffee at reasonable prices and free WiFi. The bus depot is a cool place to visit and this is a great place to enjoy a drink. Map.

Burger Society

Joanna had been craving a ‘Linda McCartney’ style veggie burger and we thought we might have found it when we came across this restaurant, if the picture was anything to go by. Unfortunately, it was not and the veggie burger was poor; it didn’t even hold its shape and fell apart after a couple of bites. My beef burger was slightly better but was covered in a cheese sauce that made it very sickly. They give you a feedback form after you have eaten so maybe improvements will be made. Map.

Chick Pea/Corn/Peanut Stand

I have to mention this street food vendor as the chick peas and sweetcorn gave Joanna incredible amounts of pleasure! The corn was my favourite: taken from the cob, with melted butter and salt. They were delicious! Map.

China House

We came to ‘The Canteen’ for live music but decided against it when we discovered the live music was a guy with a guitar playing James Blunt and the beer was 19 MYR. We returned a couple of days later to discover that China House is a collection of cafes, shops and galleries in Penang’s longest shop (100 metres long). It’s a very quirky environment. You can enter on one street and exit on another. Map.

Ee Beng Vegetarian Food

Nasi Kandar style restaurant with one difference: everything is vegetarian. With some of the dishes you won’t believe you are not eating meat as the seitan meat substitute is so convincing. I had a veggie chicken drumstick with a lollipop stick as the bone! They even do a veggie fish head soup!

Joanna had already eaten here a number of times before I visited. After trying the food, I returned the next day. A must-visit. Map.

Fruitmade

We visited this juice stand/shop after a sweaty day wandering the streets of George Town finding the remaining steel rod art pieces. We both had a lychee and lime ice drink and it was delicious! The shop sells fruit-themed clothes and accessories. Map.

Gurney Drive Hawker Centre

The food in George Town is amazing but I was a little underwhelmed by the night markets which I thought were not as impressive as the ones in Thailand. This market was also a disappointment. I was expecting so much more. Most of it was closed; I’m not sure if this was permanent or just on the day I visited. Not worth travelling out of George Town for. Map.

Hakuna Matata Cafe

Wanting a change from Malaysian food for breakfast, we came across this cafe and noticed they did western breakfasts. Their ‘English breakfast’ was a decent effort and the coffee was good. Map.

Khoon Pastry House

This was opposite our hotel and I noticed one of their specialities was ‘mutton shepherd’s pie’. The restaurant has been open for many years so I decided to give it a try. The shepherd’s pie seemed to have a chicken base and had generous pieces of mutton. It wasn’t really a shepherd’s pie but it was still tasty. Watch out for the bone though! Map.

Kimberley Street Food Night Market

This was the first place we visited for food. I was a little underwhelmed at first; I was expecting a whole street of street food vendors. There are a small number of street food vendors, some restaurants and a food court. There is some great food to be found here at cheap prices. I ate at three different places here and had pork curry, pork satay and chicken leg. There is also a vegetarian restaurant that Joanna gave a thumbs up. You will also find durian sellers in the evening. Map.

Lightbulb Cafe

We came here for coffee and ended up taking advantage of their lunch offer which included ‘soup of the day’, a ‘main’ and a hot drink for just 15 MYR. The coffee was good and the food was ok. It’s a nice, chilled-out place. Map.

Love Lane

Basically, a street of bars and obviously filled with tourists. The bars try to outdo each other with their happy hour deals. The cheapest we could see was 2 small beers for 15 MYR. Once the happy hour was over, it was 15 MYR each.

A number of the bars offer live music and they always seemed busy and a good place to meet people. However, we had found our go-to places for cheap beer so we skipped Love Lane. Map.

Mamasak Food Court

A little out of the old town is this modern food court serving food from all over South East Asia. We came here twice and ate at two different stalls and both times the food was delicious. Map.

Mr Shawerma

Middle-eastern restaurant selling falafel, kebab, hummus and other tasty treats. Be careful of the ‘vegan’ menu; last time I checked, feta cheese was not vegan. The shawerma wrap plate was great value. Map.

Nasi Kandar Pelita

We came here for breakfast one day as it was situated near our hotel. It’s a typical cheap, Malaysian restaurant so we were surprised to discover it is part of a chain. The food was delicious. Map.

New Lane Street Food Stalls

This was one of the places we’d heard about before our arrival. Similarly to Kimberley Street, I was underwhelmed by this night market. Unlike Kimberley Street, I didn’t eat here once. There is so much great, cheap food all over George Town, the night markets didn’t seem to offer anything different. Map.

New World Park

A modern food court offering food from many regions of South East Asia. Order your food at any of the stalls and they will bring it to your table where you pay. I had roasted duck and pork belly with rice and a soup for 7 MYR. We also tried out the local desserts ‘Ais Kacang’ and ‘Cendol’ here. Map.

Restoran Kapitan

I was looking for the best tandoori chicken in George Town and this place kept getting mentioned on review sites. We were not expecting a big restaurant and we thought it might be expensive. It turned out to be reasonably priced; my tandoori set was 12 MYR. The tandoori chicken was tender and juicy and came with garlic naan, 2 dips and onion. Map.

Shusi Banana Leaf Restaurant

Located in the heart of ‘Little India’ where you are never short on choice for food, you could do a lot worse than visiting this restaurant. What it lacks in decor, it makes up for in flavour. Unfortunately, they had no mutton left when we visited but the chicken curry (there are a few different curries and I had no idea what any of them were) was nice and spicy. Map.

SiTigun Coffee Shop

Excellent coffee shop serving delicious pastries, good panini and, most importantly, delicious coffee. They roast their own beans on the premises and the staff are more than happy to discuss their coffee with you. They explained to us that they go for the stronger, darker roast and if you prefer it lighter, they have another shop. Here though, you get it strong! Just the way I like it. As good as any coffee I’ve had in South East Asia and easily the best coffee in George Town. Map.

Urban Daybreak

Joanna wanted a ‘hipster breakfast’ and so our research led us to ‘Urban Daybreak’. It seemed nice on entry and it was busy too. We had to take a six-seat table upstairs aas it was the only one available. We placed our order and was then told there would be a half hour wait for food as they were so busy. Our coffees would arrive straight away so this wasn’t a problem. Maybe some water would have been nice at this point.

We were then told we were being moved downstairs as a two-seat table had become available. Some people might have got a bit annoyed by this but it didn’t bother us. What let this place down was the food. Joanna ordered avocado and eggs and the eggs were not properly cooked. My ‘slow-cooked pulled beef in tomato stew sandwich” was basically a chilli on bread. Fried bread at that, meaning it was incredibly greasy.

Come here for the coffee, which was very nice, but skip the food. Map.

Yasmeen Restaurant

Located next to the poopular ‘Line Clear’ restaurant, I had walked past this restaurant many times and always stopped to look at their nasi kandar. Finally, on the last day, I decided to give them a try. I opted for the tandoori chicken set which was identical to the one I had in ‘little India’. This one was better though. The chicken was more moist and the chicken was better spiced. Map.

Ying Her Kopitiam

‘Nasi kandar’ style restaurant and very cheap. I had a mutton curry with rice for 6 MYR. It wasn’t the best food in George Town but for the price and the choice, you can’t grumble! Map.